


I Have Asked For More

by MaliceManaged



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Canon Divergence - Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Gen, Horror, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Isolation, Non-Graphic Violence, Psychological Horror, this ain't a happy story kiddies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:33:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23533867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaliceManaged/pseuds/MaliceManaged
Summary: Loki had figured taking off on his own was not going to be very easy (what ever was?), but he most certainly was not expecting...this.What was that human saying? 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire'?
Relationships: Loki (Marvel) & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 22





	I Have Asked For More

**Author's Note:**

> So, months of not writing a gd word, and then this happens over, like, six or seven days. Because reasons. I was aiming for plain angst, and my brain gave me this instead. I had approximately zero control in the creation of this and will therefore take only 2% responsibility over what it does to any of you. I also finished it at _five in the morning,_ because who needs sleep anyway!
> 
> Title comes from [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfP_OhLQvOE) Delain song, which is a very good song that absolutely inspired several ideas I will get to eventually.

He had considered going back after setting in motion Surtur’s resurrection, he truly had. But Loki did not easily forget, and he was far less inclined to forgive these days; and so he had stolen the ship that Thor had stolen in turn and taken off in the opposite direction to the Statesman. He did take a moment to send his brother a transmission to inform him of his continued survival and subsequent departure, so he could not yet again be accused of faking his death (Was it petty to have put it like that? Perhaps. That did not stop him from doing it.), and warned Thor not to follow him before cloaking his presence from sight and Sight alike.

He hadn’t realised the extent of the damage to the ship until he was too far away to turn back, though he wondered if he would have even if he’d been closer. He decided against using the Tesseract, safe (relatively speaking) in his pocket dimension, not wanting to risk making himself a glaring target to… certain parties, and instead made what repairs he could with his limited supplies and hoped it would be enough to get him to the nearest station.

Wherever that would be.

It was about a week later that an alert blared a warning of critical damage to the engine, and he swore so viciously, he automatically apologised to his mother before realising what he’d done. He did what he could, but his knowledge of such things was simply too limited to achieve much, if indeed anything could be done. He was considering risking the Tesseract, when he spotted what could very well be his saving grace: A large ship flying more or less towards him in the distance. He couldn’t recognise the design, but the lack of weaponry suggested it was a leisure vessel. Or at least so he hoped; it would be far easier to talk his way into a luxury cruiser than a battleship, after all.

Taking a deep breath and hoping he wasn’t making a mistake, he sent out a distress signal and waited. He didn’t have to wait long before a calm, feminine-sounding voice hailed him back, identifying themselves with a name he couldn’t hope to pronounce and asking how they could be of assistance.

“Well, this is quite embarrassing, but it seems that my engine has decided that flying is overrated,” Loki replied, trying to sound as helpless as possible, receiving a concerned ‘oh, dear’ in response that made him slightly optimistic, “Indeed. I realise this may be much to ask, but could you perhaps spare a mechanic to assist in rectifying such a thing?”

“Oh, of course, of course!” the voice responded and he sighed out in relief that was only a touch exaggerated. “I can’t shift our course per Captain’s orders, but I can slow our speed and open the loading dock for you. Do you think you can make it?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“Very well, then, ser. I will wake one of our mechanics and have her stand by at the dock!”

With rather more effusive thanks than his pride was entirely comfortable with; Loki changed his course to intercept the ship then maneuvered into the loading dock, thanking whatever force wanted the credit that the engine held out long enough to get him there even as it failed at the last moment and made his landing rougher than he would have liked. As he stood to leave the cockpit, he noticed a rather conspicuous lack of the promised mechanic, but wrote it off as a delay on her part. The lack of any crew whatsoever as he exited the Commodore was slightly more concerning, though. He wasn’t completely versed in the operation of large vessels, but surely on a ship that big there would be  _ someone _ on duty at all times?

After a few minutes of waiting, Loki decided to go further into the ship in search of someone, feeling vaguely unsettled. A feeling which intensified the longer he wandered the passageways without encountering any signs of life, his footsteps the only sound beyond the faint humming of the ship’s engines and the occasional slight creaking of her hull as it settled against the vacuum of space. He was considering turning back, helping himself to whatever equipment he could find and attempting to repair his ship himself, when he heard running footsteps echoing in the distance and getting closer. Soon enough their owner turned a corner and he was met with a woman of indigo skin, long black hair tied back in numerous adorned braids and lilac eyes, and she did not look best pleased to see him there.

“You can’t be here!” she called before he could say a word.

“I assure you, I have permission to board,” Loki began placatingly, but she cut him off.

“You have to go back, before it’s too late!”

That gave him pause, and he took a proper look at her, noting that what he had taken for anger was in fact fear. “What do you mean, ‘too late’?”

“Go back,  _ now!” _ she repeated instead, going up to him and shoving him back in the hopes of getting him moving. Before he could either retaliate or do as she asked, the ship suddenly pitched upwards, knocking them off balance and sending them tumbling to the deck in a heap. He assisted her in sitting up, mostly to get her elbow off his ribs, and she shook her head then looked up at him with panic in her face. “Oh, no...”

He didn’t get a chance to ask what she meant, for she was up on her feet with admirable haste and running off in the direction he had come from. Loki was up and following after her in moments, having a sinking feeling he wasn’t going to like what they were going to find. And he wasn’t wrong; they reached the loading dock in time to see the doors close and, more importantly, the Commodore was gone, telling him the ship’s sudden movement was meant to pitch it out into space, seeing as it hadn’t been secured to anything given his troubled landing.

Loki swore again then grabbed the woman’s arm and none-too-gently turned her to face him. “What is the meaning of this? What have your people done?”

“ _ Not _ my people!” she retorted, pulling her arm away, “I tried to warn you; it wouldn’t let me!”

“What wouldn’t?”

“The ship! It-” she cut off and ran her hands over her face with a distressed sigh before looking back at him. “I was like you; I needed help, the ship responded to my distress signal so I came aboard. But there’s no one else here - I don’t think the person I talked to was even a person - and the next thing I know, my ship is gone and I’m stuck here.”

“A corrupted artificial intelligence?” Loki ventured a guess, but the woman was shaking her head before he was finished voicing the thought.

“This is a Friarean ship, they don’t use AIs; it’s against their religion or something.”

“Not theirs, then. A hijacking?”

“Where are the hijackers, then? Why would they leave their prize to wander?”

“Well, I hardly know; this is only a guess,” he snapped, causing her to flinch minutely. Loki took a calming breath; it was hardly helpful to lose his temper. “Show me to the cockpit; perhaps I can gain control of the ship.”

She looked very uncertain, and a tad nervous, but ultimately nodded and led the way back into the passageways, guiding him to the cockpit with a familiarity that made him wonder how long she had been on the ship for. When they reached the controls he realised her scepticism might well be justified, as he was not at all familiar with the language and his Allspeak did not seem to want to be of any help. Where was this ship even from? He decided against touching anything, at least for the moment, and instead turned to the woman.

“It occurs to me that I do not know your name. I am Loki.”

“Kirally,” she replied with a slight incline of her head that he returned.

“How long have you been here for, Kirally?”

“I’m not sure; I have no way to tell. It feels like a very, very long time, but that might just be the loneliness. Long enough to explore all of the ship, at least.”

“What do you do for food?” he asked partly out of curiosity, but mostly because he hadn’t eaten in days.

“I go to the galley,” she replied simply, “It was very well stocked, there’s still more than enough to feed two people for several centuries.”

“Hopefully that will not be necessary,” he said, earning a slight huff of a humourless laugh before she led the way to the galley.

After cobbling together a meal and demolishing it like a starved wolf, Loki went back to the cockpit, Kirally following close behind. A little  _ too _ closely, in his opinion, as she bumped into him when he stopped walking, but he figured that was due to the fact that she’d been alone there for Norn’s knew how long and decided not to hold it against her. He looked around for something that might help him understand the controls but came up empty, much to his annoyance. Could nothing just be simple for a change?

“What are you looking for?” Kirally asked after his third irritated huff.

“Anything useful. Do these people not believe in translators?”

“You’ve never met a Friarean, have you?” she snorted. At his raised eyebrow, she elaborated, “They think quite highly of themselves; you either learn their language or you’re out of luck.”

“I see. And do you happen to know it?”

She shook her head. “It won’t work. The controls are locked or something; the ship won’t budge off its course.”

“Damn.” A thought occurred to him after a moment. “What about the communications? You said you tried to warn me; so you can work those at least, yes?”

“Well, yes, but as I said, the ship wouldn’t let me get any word out. Don’t you think I tried to call for help before? It didn’t work.”

He frowned and looked at the controls then out at the space beyond. The Tesseract hovered at the edge of his mind, but he pushed the thought away. Not yet. Not until it was absolutely necessary. Instead he turned back to Kirally, attention on an issue quickly becoming quite pressing. “Perhaps some rest will bring solutions, I confess I have not had proper rest for some time.”

She got that look on her face again, the uncertainty mixed with nervousness, but as before simply nodded and led the way through the passageways to the passenger cabins. She stopped before a door and inserted what he assumed to be the key into a little slot next to it, causing it to slide open with a quiet hiss, revealing a lavish suite decorated in deep reds and greys with dusty rose accents. He expected her to leave him to it and go to another suite, but she walked in after him, prompting a questioning look.

“This is the only suite we can use,” she said by way of explanation.

“And why is that?”

“It’s the only I have a key to.” He raised an eyebrow, not quite believing her, but she only shrugged and walked over to a plush crimson couch, sitting down to remove her boots. “I’ll sleep here, if that helps.”

“You are alright with sleeping in the same chambers as a complete stranger?” he asked, bristling slightly at the perceived implication that he needed coddling.

“It’s better than the alternative,” she replied vaguely, then walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her before he could question her meaning.

By the time she came back out, hair loose and spilling down her back and its adornments in her hands, his tiredness had won out and he had settled into the bed. He stirred when she came over to snag one of the many blankets off the bed, but she coaxed him back to sleep and went over to the couch, curling up facing the backrest and eventually drifting off herself.

****

Loki awoke to the distinct feeling of being watched, and subtly conjured a dagger to his hand before opening his eyes, relaxing his grip on it when he was met with Kirally’s confused expression as she sat on the couch re-braiding her hair. He cleared his throat then turned towards her fully. “What?”

“You were mumbling.”

He vanished the dagger and sat up, running his hands through his hair in an attempt to untangle the knots that had formed in his sleep. “Was I? Anything interesting?”

“Something about a wedding?”

His brow furrowed and he tried to recall what he’d been dreaming about, but it had slipped away. He shrugged and stood, going into the bathroom. When he came back out, he observed her for a while as she wove the locks between her fingers expertly, occasionally adding colourful beads, though she seemed not to mind overmuch. Finally his curiosity got the better of him. “Do those adornments have a meaning?”

“They do,” she replied succinctly, glancing over at him briefly.

“It is personal, then?” he guessed.

She was quiet for a moment. “They signify that I’m not welcome on my homeworld anymore.”

“Why not?” he asked before he really thought about it, wincing slightly once he did, “Forgive me, that is… none of my business.”

“No, it’s alright. I donned them willingly.”

He hummed in understanding but asked no further questions, simply watched her work. Once she was finished they made their way to the galley for some breakfast, then headed towards the engine room at his suggestion, though what he meant to do there he didn’t say. After a very thorough examination of the engines, during which she fidgeted and looked around nervously but would not tell him why, they headed back up so he could explore the captain’s cabin.

He didn’t notice it at first, what with the way their footsteps echoed in the near complete silence, but slowly became aware of an extra set of echoes alongside their own. He stopped walking rather suddenly, causing Kirally to bump into him before stopping in turn, but the footsteps did not cease. He looked behind them to see a figure dressed in lavish clothes walking towards the direction they had come from. Wondering how he could have missed them, Loki made to call out to them, but before he could get a word out, Kirally’s hand shot up and clamped over his mouth.

Irritated, he reached up to take her hand away and ask what in Hel was wrong with her, but stopped short as he turned to her to be met with the utterly terrified look on her face. She shook her head frantically and pushed him towards the closest room to the side, not taking her hand away from his mouth until the door slid closed behind them and they could no longer hear the footsteps.

“You can’t talk to them,” she said shakily.

“You said there was no one else here,” he half accused.

“There  _ isn’t…” _

“… No one alive, at least,” he realised. “A ghost ship. A  _ literal _ ghost ship. This is just my luck,” he huffed. Could  _ nothing _ just be simple? “Well, it is not ideal, but hardly a cause for such terror.” She fixed him with a glare and he raised his hands in apology. “Why can we not speak to them? And ‘them’? How many are there?”

“I’ve seen ten, so far. They don’t seem to notice you’re there unless you try to talk to them.”

“And then?” She looked away but he grabbed her face and turned it back to his. “Kirally,” he said sternly, “Tell me.”

“… I wasn’t alone when I came aboard,” she finally confessed, pulling his hand off her face, “My partner… tried talking to one of them. It killed him.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, I was in another room. I just heard him call out to them, and then the screams, and then he was gone. I went to look for him and ran into one of them, but it just walked right by me like I wasn’t even there.” She wrapped her arms around herself, taking a shaky breath. “Oh, there was so much blood. Too much. All over. I knew he had to be dead, he couldn’t possibly have survived that much loss, I just…” she swallowed thickly, “But by the time I got the nerve to go back there and look for… for his body, it was all gone like nothing had happened.”

“Why did you not tell me this from the start?”

She let out a slightly manic laugh. “Would you have believed me? A haunted ship?”

“Actually, yes, I would have. This would not be my first experience with such things,” he countered, before conceding, “But I suppose you would have no way of knowing that.” He moved past her to the door and poked his head out into the passageway for a moment before turning back to her. “Well, it seems our ghost has moved on for the moment. We should continue on.”

“Do you really need to go into the captain’s cabin?”

“I want to look at what logs were kept. Why; is there a problem in the captain’s cabin?”

“There’s a problem everywhere; this whole ship is a problem.”

“Then what difference does a little exploration make? You have done it, and here you still are, in one piece. Or would this have anything to do with why you were fidgeting so much in the engine room?”

“They show up sometimes, when you move things around. Not everywhere - like the galley; I haven’t seen one there yet, but…”

“It is a risk I am willing to take. Those logs could contain answers, answers that could get us off this ship.” At her fearful look he sighed. “You do not need to come with me, I could look on my ow-”

“No!” she cried, lunging forward and grabbing hold of his arm in an iron grip, “No splitting up!”

He blinked. “… Very well; we stay together,” he replied, gently pulling on her wrist to get her to loosen her grip. She was a lot stronger than she looked.

She relaxed significantly at his words, letting him go. “I’m sorry; I’m not usually this… It’s just. I can’t be alone again. With _them,_ I …”

“Of course. Of course; I did not consider that.” It only then occurred to him that the reason she walked so close to him was less loneliness than it was fear of being separated. “I will try not to disturb too much in the captain’s cabin, but I must see those logs.”

She took a steadying breath. “You’re right. For all I know, the solution has been there all along.”

“I would hold off on any optimism just yet, but it certainly is better than doing nothing.”

The rest of the walk to the captain’s cabin was made in silence, both of them on high alert for any more ghosts, but there were no further encounters. Once they reached their destination Loki searched the desk in the corner, figuring what he sought would be there, while Kirally stood by unwilling to touch anything. Occasionally he got her attention when he found something so that she could translate, but every time she shook her head. Finally, at the very back of a drawer, he pulled out a datapad; he turned the display on and showed it to Kirally, at last getting a nod as she skimmed it.

When she looked back up, she just barely managed to stifle a gasp and her hand shot out to grab Loki’s shoulder. He looked at her, then behind him, and immediately straightened; there, standing a few feet away facing the desk, was who he assumed was the captain of the ship. Loki had been putting everything back where he found it as he went, but the datapad was on the top of the desk, and the captain’s eyes zeroed in on it, her brows furrowing. Thinking fast and hoping it would work, Loki cast a quick spell to send the datapad into his pocket dimension while simultaneously leaving a duplicate in its place. The captain walked up to the desk and they quickly backed away, though she seemed not to notice them at all as she picked up the fake datapad and returned it to its place, just as Kirally had said.

When she made no move to acknowledge them, they backed up to the door and left the cabin, neither risking saying a word until they were back in the suite they’d slept in before.

“Admittedly,” Loki said as he sat on the couch, “That was unnerving.”

“I told you.”

“Well, at least I got what I was looking for.” He conjured the datapad and held it out to her. “Now I just need you to read it.”

She looked at the datapad a bit warily then took it and turned the display on. She flicked through the files for a few moments, brows furrowing slightly. “This ship is older than I thought. I never was able to get the hang of how Fiareans measure time, but… this language is a bit different than the one I learned. I don’t even recognise some of these letters.”

“But you can still decipher it, I hope?”

“Yes, I should be able to,” she assured him then continued flicking through the pages. “It’s just standard information, really; there doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary… Maybe whatever happened was too sudden for the captain to log it?”

“Perhaps.”

“Wait… This could be something,” she glanced up at him briefly then turned back to the log, “It’s the third to last entry: ‘Encountered what appeared to be a… derelict ship of unknown…’, origins? I think that’s origins. ‘We are not equipped for salvage, but I nevertheless dispatched First Mate…’, I… can’t pronounce that,” she shook her head and moved on, “‘With a few… hands?… to take a look. Crew…  _ confirmed…  _ confirmed ship to be deserted, but were unable to identify it. Nothing of value was found, and the ship’s log was not… written in any language known to the crew, therefore no information as to… its fate or that of its crew… could be gathered. We lost contact with the crew for…’, however long that is, ‘but they reported no trouble once communications… were restored. Crew returned aboard without… incident. Derelict ship was reported to the nearest station before we continued… on our designated course. End of Captain’s log.’”

“A derelict ship and sudden loss of communications? That could indeed be where our problem began. What do the other logs say?”

She read through them then looked back up at him and shrugged. “It’s just more standard information. Not even a mention of the other ship.”

“What about a location? Where did they encounter that ship?”

“I can’t tell; these measurements mean nothing to me, they must not use them anymore.” She thought for a moment. “But we could try looking up the coordinates directly on the navigational map? It should still be programmed for it, with no one to update it.”

“It is worth a try.”

They were about to stand to do just that, when there was a loud bang coming from somewhere outside the suite, startling them. Another followed some moments later, sounding closer, then another some moments after  _ that _ closer still. Loki looked at Kirally, wondering if that had happened before, but the finger she put to her lips in warning answered the unspoken question. The banging continued, getting closer each time until it seemed to come from right outside their door, and Loki tensed in preparation, but they simply continued on down the passageway at the same intervals. When the banging ceased, he went to say something, but she covered her ears with her hands with a look that suggested he do the same. He was confused but followed her lead, figuring she knew something he didn’t.

A few moments later he was very glad he did.

What began with a few startled shrieks soon turned into a cacophony of terror and agony that shook him to the core. He couldn’t tell how many there were, but given the size and passenger capacity of the ship… he decided he didn’t want to know. There was the sound of running, presumably the passengers trying to escape whatever was happening, and a sudden frantic banging on their door along with what he assumed were cries for help, before they ceased just as suddenly as they began. He looked at Kirally again, and the haunted look in her eyes told him she had experienced this more than once.

Something like an hour later, the ship was quiet once again, though the silence felt oppressive after all that chaos. So unsettled had it left Loki that when Kirally choked out a sob, he startled quite violently. She brought her knees up to her chest, buried her face in them and broke down; he found himself feeling a burst of sympathy for her that rather surprised him in its intensity. Slowly, he reached over and placed a hand on her back, not really sure what to do but feeling as though he should be doing  _ something. _

Once she had calmed, she excused herself to the bathroom, though she kept the door open as she washed her face clean of her tears, for which he absolutely couldn’t blame her. She was back as soon as she was done, and if she sat a bit closer to him than she had been, he made no comment on it.

“That…” he began after a moment before trailing off. He tried again, “I would have… appreciated a bit of warning for… that.”

“How would I even…  _ begin _ to warn about that?”

“How many times…?”

“Seven.”

He winced. “How often does it happen?”

“I don’t know. No way to tell the passing of time, remember?”

“Right.” He was silent for a moment. “Is it safe to leave this suite now?”

She shrugged halfheartedly, staring at the floor. “I never do.”

He nodded, willing to follow her lead, looking towards the door. After another bout of silence, he turned to her again. “I am sorry about your partner.”

A nod was the only indication that she had heard him. “He shouldn’t have been here,” she spoke up softly after a moment, “I told him not to follow me, to stay home, but no; if  _ I _ chose exile, he would, too.”

“He must have cared for you greatly.”

“We were Tied.”

“Tied?”

“It… My people believe our lives are led by threads; every choice you make, every person you are surrounded with, defines which thread tugs you forward. Some people, most people, you share a thread with for a time but eventually separate as you move past each other on your way. But some people you connect with in a way that your threads become inextricably woven together. Tied.”

He hummed. “Like soulmates?”

“If you like.” She leaned back into the couch, looking up to the overhead. “I suppose that’s an equivalent enough term.”

“If you were so inextricably connected, then you could not have stopped him following you. It was not your fault.”

A sigh. “I know. It doesn’t make it better.”

“Nothing ever does,” he replied, leaning back into the couch as well.

Eventually they drifted to sleep, unconsciously shifting closer to each other.

****

Loki woke with a start, which in turn startled Kirally awake, as she had at one point slumped against his side, and looked around him momentarily disoriented. He would not have expected to fall asleep after such an event, and part of him wondered if there were not more to the fact. They had so little information on what had happened on the ship, after all; who could even tell what it could influence? He looked at his companion to see her rubbing the sleep from her eyes then looked towards the door leading out to the passageway. They would have to go out there at some point, he knew.

“It should be fine to go now,” Kirally said, surprising him and making him wonder if he’d said anything aloud without realising it. “You’re wondering about that, aren’t you?”

Ah, so he hadn’t. “I was. How long do you usually wait?”

“Until I wake up.”

“You always sleep after… whatever that was?”

She nodded. “Sometimes right after, sometimes it takes a while, but it happens eventually and after it’s like nothing happened.”

He leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees, face pensive. “A cycle?” he muttered to himself after a moment.

“Sorry?”

He shook his head and stood. “It is nothing. A theory. Let us see to those coordinates, before anything else happens.”

“Right.” She stood and handed him the datapad for safekeeping, waiting until he’d sent it to his pocket dimension before making her way to the door.

There was no hesitation as she opened the door and walked into the passageway, and though he followed her closely, he half expected…  _ something _ outside the suite. But, just as she had said, the passageway was completely empty and clear as it had been the entire time he’d been on the ship, no evidence of anything at all having ever gone wrong. It led credence to his theory, even if it was rather disturbing. As they walked towards the cockpit, a door hissed open just as Kirally reached it; Loki acted on pure instinct, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back with him flat against the passageway, just as a finely dressed man walked out of the suite. They held their breaths as the man walked by them utterly unconcerned, and did not release them until he had turned into the corner they had just come from.

They didn’t move for a long while then Loki seemed to realise he was still holding onto Kirally and dropped his arm abruptly, muttering an apology that she dismissed, before they continued on. Giving the doors a wider berth, of course. The rest of the journey passed without incident, and soon enough they stood before the navigational computer, where Loki summoned the datapad and handed it to Kirally so she could get the coordinates. It took a bit of work to figure out how to input the information, but she managed, the map pulling up a projection of the empty space where the derelict ship had once been.

“Of course, by now it has probably long since been salvaged,” Loki cursed.

“Well, maybe…” Kirally zoomed out a bit, searching around, “They reported her to the nearest station, right? Maybe if I can find that…”

“Assuming it is still there at all either; we do not know just how long ago this all occurred.”

“It’s worth a try. There!” She zoomed in on a dot, pulling up the station’s information, then her brows furrowed. “Here?”

“You know this station?”

“Yes; this is where the Illmarioch is docked.”

“The…?”

“The Illmarioch?” At his blank expression, she gave him an odd look. “Just where are you  _ from?” _

“Clearly very far away. Now what is the significance of that name?” he asked impatiently, not wanting to dwell on such things. It didn’t really matter now.

She stared at him a moment longer then turned back to the screen. “The Illmarioch is a rather infamous derelict ship turned tourist attraction. She was thoroughly investigated when she was recovered, of course, but nothing seemed wrong with her, aside from the missing crew. There was no damage to her, no sign of any foul play or struggle or anything of the sort. She was just empty. There was a search, but the crew was never found. Nobody knows where she came from or who built her, no one ever claimed her. Illmarioch is actually not even her name, just the closest guess. No one could come to any real conclusions as to what happened to her. She was simply found right where she was reported by the Ce-” she cut off abruptly, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“What?”

“The Celeste,” she half whispered. “This is the Celeste.”

The name meant nothing to him whatsoever. This lack of knowledge was becoming quite a bit frustrating. “I assume that is another infamous name?”

“The Celeste was a Fiarean leisure cruise that disappeared without a trace a little over a month after beginning her voyage. It caused quite an uproar because of her passenger list; wealthy and affluent people from all over the system. Her last known location was close to where the Illmarioch was salvaged, which was part of why the investigation for that one was so extensive, once the contact between them was learned. But unlike the Illmarioch, the Celeste was never found.”

“So, it is safe to assume that whatever left the Illmarioch derelict came aboard this ship,” Loki concluded, “Now we only need to figure out just what that was.”

She began to agree, when movement at the periphery of their vision caught their attention and they turned to find the captain standing a few feet away, as before her eyes straight on the datapad they’d left on the dash. As soon as the ghost took a step forward, Kirally scrambled out of the navigator’s seat and they moved away. And not a moment too soon, for just as she did, the navigation officer herself appeared and took her seat, returning the map to how it had been before they’d used it. The captain placed a hand on the officer’s shoulder when she reached her and picked up her logs; with a pat to the officer’s shoulder, the captain turned and left the cockpit. When they looked back to the navigational computer, the officer was gone as well.

“Well, then… They truly do not care for change, do they?” Loki spoke up after a minute, earning a strangled sound that might have been an attempt at a laugh. “We should leave here for now, lest we upset them further.”

Kirally shuddered slightly, the memory of her partner’s fate coming to the forefront of her mind. “Yes, let’s avoid that.”

****

Several days later (or at least the closest to ‘days’ they counted using a clock Loki happened to have) they had made no real progress in finding a way off the ship, though at least they had managed to avoid the ghosts for the most part. They mostly accomplished that by not leaving the suite they slept in very much, which was how Kirally had been managing before he’d arrived.

“Why this suite?” Loki asked one ‘morning’ as he watched her braid her hair.

“It was empty,” she replied, holding her hand out for another of her beads, which Loki held in his hands, “I had looked through the passenger manifest back when we came aboard; we were trying to find answers as to why the ship was empty. When I learned the ghosts didn’t like their things being moved, it occured to me to look through it again, and I found that this suite’s intended guest hadn’t shown so it had been empty when… well, everything happened.”

“So, you were not entirely lying when I asked; this truly is the only one we can use.”

She looked up at him. “I’m sorry. For not being honest from the start.”

He waved her apology off. “You did not know that I would have believed you. I could have simply dismissed it as madness.”

“I was planning to tell you about the ghosts at some point,” she insisted, “I wouldn’t have risked you getting yourself killed. I just… wasn’t sure how, or when, to bring it up.”

He hummed then passed her another bead. “May I ask; why do you wear these?”

“I told you, they signify I’m exiled from my homeworld.”

“Yes, but why continue to wear them? You told me you left voluntarily, so I assume you are not in any hurry to return. Why bother with them still?”

“Just because I left doesn’t mean I want no part of my people or my culture,” she retorted somewhat sharply. She closed her eyes and took a breath. “I wanted more than I was expected to be content with, so I left. My home had nothing to do with it, just a few people in it. I keep ‘bothering’ with this because it’s all I have left.”

“I can understand that,” he said softly. At her questioning look, he sighed. “My relationship with my home and the people in it was…  _ complicated, _ to say the least, but that does not stop me from missing it.”

“Can’t you return?”

He let out a bitter laugh. “I destroyed it; so, no, I cannot.”

She blinked, pausing in her task. “I’m sorry??”

“It is a long story.”

“We have rather an abundance of time, if you hadn’t noticed.”

He considered refusing, not particularly wanting to dwell on Asgard, much less its destruction at his hands, but really, it wasn’t as though they had much to do. And perhaps he needed to tell  _ someone _ about it. So, he did. He had to backtrack before the battle against Hela, as he found she didn’t really know much about Asgard or Yggdrasil and thus missed some of the significance of it all; before he knew it, several hours had passed and he had basically given her an abridged history lesson on the Nine Realms, complete with illusions to illustrate some of the details better than words could. It likely helped that she was an attentive audience; he never could resist such.

When he began to delve into more personal things, he suggested they break for food, which she agreed to easily enough, seeing that he was having a bit of difficulty. Idly, he wondered how all the food was even still good; upon discovering the ship’s name, Kirally had told him that it had been almost a century since it had disappeared. He figured his theory of time being out of sorts in a way was the likelier explanation for both that and the fact that the ship was still in the condition it was with no one to give it the maintenance it would require otherwise. The real question was what had caused it, and how much longer would it continue to do so?

“You’ve got that look on your face again,” Kirally spoke suddenly, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“What look?”

“That pensive look. What are you thinking?”

“Ah, that. I am simply wondering how this ship is still space worthy, or the food still edible, after near a century of no care.”

She hummed. “I’d wondered that myself. Any conclusions?”

“Interference with time is the likely culprit; it would take an obscene amount of magic to preserve all of this for that long otherwise.”

“I’m going to take your word on that,” she said with a slight laugh, earning one in turn. “What could cause something like that?”

“There are powerful curses that can suspend time for centuries once cast, but I have never heard of one transferring targets this way,” he mused, poking at his food distractedly, “It could perhaps be a cursed  _ object _ instead; perhaps one of the crew found something on the Illmarioch and decided to keep it for themselves.”

“Which would explain why it wasn’t noted in the Captain’s log,” she reasoned, to which he nodded.

“Exactly. It would hardly be the first time someone’s greed doomed hundreds.”

She got the feeling he wasn’t entirely referring to the ship anymore, but chose not to comment on it. “And if it’s not that?”

“I am not sure. Those are certainly not the only possibilities. The only thing I am certain of is that time has been tampered with. The how and why…” he trailed off with a slight shrug.

They finished the rest of their meal in silence then headed for the cockpit. They had focused so singly on the location of the derelict ship the last time that it had not really occurred to them to find out just what course the Celeste was on; after conversing, they had learned whomever or  _ what _ ever had responded to their respective distress calls had mentioned not being able to change the course of the ship ‘per Captain’s orders’. Taking that into account with the fact that Kirally had been unable to do so herself, they figured it might have some significance, perhaps even something that could help them. And so they had given it a few days, so as to not tamper with anything too soon, before going to check.

“Well, that’s odd,” Kirally said, brows furrowed in confusion, “We’re just going in a straight line. A few adjustments for obstacles along the way, yes, but otherwise.”

“Is there an actual destination?” Loki asked, hovering over her shoulder but not touching the controls for fear of touching the wrong thing.

“I don’t know. Let me…” she adjusted her query and they watched as the map changed accordingly, though when it finally stopped, the answer was… not particularly encouraging. “… That’s a black hole.”

“… So it is.”

_ “… Fuck.” _

“Indeed.”

Having their answer, even if it only served to add to their problems, they reset the map to how it had been and left the cockpit before the ghosts showed up. Back in their suite Loki paced back and forth as he thought, Kirally seated on the couch fidgeting with her braids and watching him. Again he considered the Tesseract, but shoved the thought aside harshly; the black hole was still several hundred lightyears away, they still had time to find another solution. Preferably one that wouldn’t get him killed, or worse.

“Why a black hole? What could be gained from such a disastrous trajectory?”

“Well, they’re ghosts,” Kirally pointed out, “It’s not as though they would  _ lose _ much flying the ship into a black hole.”

“Why let us aboard?” he continued as though he hadn’t heard her. “Acknowledging the ghosts proves deadly, moving things might well be as well. What is the point?”

“Must there be one? And will you stop pacing? You’re making me anxious.”

“Of course there is a point; everything has a point, even if it is not readily apparent,” he snapped impatiently, though he did stop his pacing and instead sat down on the bed. “They could have ignored our distress calls, but they not only answered them, they made sure we boarded before getting rid of our ships and therefore trapping us here. Why? And how many others have been here before us who did not manage to survive?”

Kirally paled at that. It honestly hadn’t occurred to her that there may have been others before them, others who hadn’t figured out the rules to stay alive as she had. And with the ship roaming for almost a century, the likelihood of that number being quite high was… She shuddered a bit and decided she didn’t want to think about that after all. “There has to be a way to stop it. If we don’t they’ll just keep picking up others unfortunate enough to need help.”

“Stopping a ship is easy enough,” Loki scoffed, “You should be more concerned with how we will get off it beforehand.”

Kirally raised an eyebrow. “What, you just happen to keep explosives in your pocket?” she asked sarcastically.

He chuckled. “You are not as far off as you might think. But I do not need explosives,” he raised a hand and let his seidr flow over it and between his fingers like a snake, “I have this.”

“Alright, so you can stop the ship,” she conceded, “But how do we get out?”

“That I am still working out.”

****

They had only just gone into their suite, after hastily leaving another exploration of the engines following the appearance of a few engineer ghosts, when the distant banging on the passageways began. Kirally let out a slight distressed sound and went to curl up on the couch, eyes shut tight and hands covering her ears before the banging had even reached their door. Loki joined her and placed a glowing hand on her head, causing her to flinch slightly as her nerves were all on edge, before weaving a simple silencing spell on her. When it took effect, she opened her eyes and looked up at him confusedly, but he simply put a finger to his lips.

The screaming began sooner than he would have liked, and while it shook him just as much as it had the first time, he weathered it all, not wanting to risk there being a dangerous change in the pattern while neither would be aware of it. He honestly wasn’t entirely sure why he’d cast the spell at all; just that for some reason, the thought of Kirally having to experience that whole ordeal again left him more unsettled than he could ignore. It was probably the fact that she’d already had to listen to it seven times before, he figured. There weren’t many people he would wish that upon, and she definitely wasn’t one of them. When it was over, and his nerves settled enough that he could actually force himself to move, he removed the spell from Kirally, earning a meek ‘thank you’ that he nodded at, and conjured the device he was using to keep track of the ‘days’.

“It seems I was correct,” he half murmured after checking it.

“About what?” she asked as she sat up.

“It has been a month and five days since the last time that occurred.”

She tilted her head to the side a bit in thought. “The same amount of time Celeste flew before she disappeared.”

“Exactly.” He sent the device back to its place and looked at her. “It seems whatever keeps time suspended also brings about a loop to the moment that… well,  _ whatever _ happened, happened.” He sat back in thought. “If we can learn what that is and perhaps disrupt it, it might give us the way out we require. Or at least even the odds.”

Kirally hummed in reply, suddenly finding it difficult to keep her eyes open. Before long, she had slumped forward, falling on him as a result; she was out before her head hit his chest. Loki tried to fight the pull of sleep now that he was aware of it, but it was unrelenting; so much so that it grew more and more difficult to remember why he even wanted to, until he simply couldn’t anymore and surrendered to its grasp.

This time when he started awake Kirally had beat him to it, though she didn’t move off of him until he moved to sit up. “What is it?” he asked warily, noting the troubled look on her face.

She didn’t speak for a long moment, long enough that he began to doubt she would. “Eight months,” she finally murmured, “I’ve been here for eight months.”

He winced a bit; he hadn’t really thought about what his discovery of the time loop meant for her. He had no idea what to even say to that, and so he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it sympathetically. In response she leaned forward into him, pressing her face against his chest and clutching his tunic; he stiffened then slowly wrapped his arms around her, not entirely comfortable with this turn of events but feeling as though it was the least he could do. It was bad enough being alone in space for long stretches of time (thoughts of falling crept at the edges of his mind but he stamped them down quickly), to say nothing of the ghosts who would kill you if you talked to them or the ship reliving a massacre on a monthly basis. Yes, suffering a hug was a small sacrifice, he thought.

When she finally pulled away, she brushed the braids that had fallen over her shoulders back into place and stood. “Sorry,” she muttered, smoothing the front of her tunic and not really looking at him, “We should probably eat something.”

Ah. He had rather hoped she’d be too troubled to notice his discomfort, but evidently not. Instead of acknowledging it, he stood and led the way to the door without a word. He hesitated a second before opening it, muscles tensed in preparation to defend them (wait,  _ them? _ ), but the passageway was clear as before. The trip to the galley passed without incident, which slightly surprised him given the last time they had left the suite after the massacre, but he certainly wasn’t about to complain. While they ate they discussed ways they might stop the ship, but the matter of getting off of it was still one of their biggest obstacles, so not much progress was actually made since their last discussion on the subject. He again voiced his idea that interfering with the time loop might be of use, but they had little clue how to go about doing that, given that they didn’t know what was actually causing it in the first place.

“Perhaps if we saw what was actually happening,” he began, but she cut him off.

“Are you  _ out _ of your  _ mind??” _ she blurted, voice shriller than she would have liked in her alarm.

“ _ Admittedly, _ it is not the  _ safest _ of options-”

“Oh, whatever would give you  _ that _ idea?”

“Well, then, what would you suggest?” he practically sneered, “You have yet to come up with a solution to this in eight months!”

“Well, at least I’m not coming up with plans that will get us both killed!”

“No, you simply cling to me as a replacement for your partner.”

Even as he said the words, he knew he had gone too far. He expected the hurt that flashed across her face, of course, but it was the utter blankness that followed as she stood and left the galley alone that truly made him regret them. He delayed going after her, clearing out their unfinished meals just in case and taking entirely longer than was really necessary; guilt was not a feeling he was particularly accustomed to, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it. He would have to apologise, of course. He never was very good at apologising.

When he stepped into their suite, Kirally was nowhere in sight, which sent a sharp pang of worry through him, thinking of where she might have gone - so far it had only been the suite and the galley that were safe from the ghosts - but then he heard some soft splashing coming from the bathroom and relaxed. He considered simply leaving her to it, but decided the weight of the guilt was too unpleasant to wait any longer; and so he made his way to the open door, knocking softly on the doorway to alert her to his presence. She didn’t speak or turn to look at him, but she did pause in brushing her hair.

“I have an unfortunate habit of lashing out in the worst of ways,” he finally said after a moment. It was not much of an apology, and he knew it, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to say ‘I’m sorry’. The longer her silence stretched on for, though, the worse he felt, until finally he couldn’t stand it any longer. “Kirally, I…” He swallowed. Why was this so hard?? He took a step further into the room and tried again. “I should not have said that.”

“Well, you weren’t entirely wrong,” she replied almost numbly, resuming brushing her hair.

“That does not make it any less unnecessary or cruel.”

She was silent for another while. “You know, I don’t think I’ve really grieved him. Or not much, at least.” She huffed humourlessly. “Too busy trying not to join him, I guess.”

“I rather doubt he would want you to.”

A smile, even if it was a tad bitter. “What, you don’t think that would be romantic? Together in life and in death?”

“Anyone who would rather you suffer a painful death just to keep you as theirs does not truly love you.”

“Careful, that sounds like the voice of experience.”

“We all make mistakes,” he replied vaguely. He walked further into the room, sitting down behind her, and held out his hand to her field of vision. “May I?”

She eyed his hand curiously for a moment, but nevertheless surrendered the brush to him, shifting forward long enough to pull her hair out over the edge of the tub before settling back. Her hair was stiffer than he expected; it reminded him more of fur, really, though it still parted easily under the bristles of the brush and between his fingers. The activity was quite soothing, he found; for her as much as for him, if the way she relaxed after a while was any indication. The length and amount of hair guaranteed he’d be brushing for quite a while, even with her having already started before he came in, but he still waited until he was finished to speak again, not wanting to sour the moment.

“I would not need to be in the passageways to see what is there.”

“How?”

He called on his seidr and conjured an image of the passageway outside their suite on the surface of the water, then brushed it away with his hand. “I have grown a penchant for being a tad reckless with my own wellbeing, but for one: I am not an idiot; getting myself killed would be remarkably counterproductive,” he moved to her side and turned her face to his, “For another: I would not put  _ you _ at risk. I do not care for a great many people these days, Kirally, but you have become significant to me. I would much prefer for you to continue living.”

She brushed her fingers up his wrist and hand, eliciting a slight involuntary shiver from him, and smiled a bit. “The feeling is mutual.” The smile turned a tad teasing. “And not just because you’re my only company.”

He breathed a laugh then turned to lean against the tub while she finished her bath, after which he handed her the towel and left the bathroom. She walked out a few minutes later after getting dressed and sat on the couch with her beads to braid her hair; as he had taken to doing, he sat beside her and took the beads so he could hand them to her as needed. She had asked him why he seemed so keen to do that but he had been vague in answering, saying only that he used to do something similar for someone else once, and at the time she had chosen not to pry then simply forgot to ask again.

“Are we going to wait until next month, or do we try to find a way out of here in the meantime?” she asked after she was finished, brushing the braids over her shoulders.

“I am unsure. I suppose it largely depends on whether or not anything happens between now and then.”

“I still don’t like this idea. Changing things could backfire horribly.”

“Yes, but if we do not try, we may just be here forever. And this is assuming that whatever is causing all of this will remain as it was; our presence could have already changed things, and it may only be a matter of time until it proves fatal.”

She leaned back into the couch with a deep sigh, closing her eyes. “This is ridiculous. All we needed was to replace a valve; instead we get  _ this.” _

He was quiet for a long while, debating whether he should bring it up again or leave it be. He was pretty sure she’d forgiven him. Right? “… I truly am sorry,” he murmured, earning a sidelong questioning look, and he looked away before elaborating, “About what I said. About your partner.”

She turned her face to look at him properly for a moment, then reached up and took his chin in her hand, turning his face to hers as he had done earlier. “I know. I forgive you.”

He breathed out a relieved sigh, the guilt finally loosening its grip, and nodded.

****

Their footsteps echoed loudly around them as they ran through the passageways, turning corners and ducking through doors so fast, it was a wonder neither of them tripped. But they didn’t have time to think about that.

They had just left the engine room, fleeing the ghosts that had been appearing with more regularity since the last cycle reset, when they had spotted something through one of the ports. A moment’s inspection revealed it to be another ship, one with a very familiar silhouette that made Loki pale. He had barely uttered a name - the Statesman - before he was running, leaving Kirally to catch up. They had almost reached the cockpit when one of the ghosts suddenly appeared in Loki’s path, causing him to hastily dodge, not wanting to find out what would happen if they collided. Kirally had been far enough to his side that she simply kept going, trusting he would be okay. She remembered what Loki had said, the remaining asgardians were on that ship, and she knew all too well what would happen if they boarded the Celeste.

She reached the cockpit moments before he did, and so was close enough to hear the hiss of the door as it closed behind her, causing her to whirl around. “No! Loki!” she cried, trying to open the door, but it remained shut.

***

Loki saw the moment the door began to close and tried to run faster, but it was no use. He heard Kirally call out to him and tell him she was trying to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. He banged a fist against the metal with a growled,  _ “Fuck!” _

“What do we do??”

Loki hesitated for all of two seconds before deciding. “You have to warn them! You have to try!”

“I can’t just  _ leave you out there!” _

“Kirally! They  _ cannot. _ Board. This. Ship!” Whatever his feelings on Asgard as a whole, or Thor, the thought of them at the mercy of the ghosts… “Keep them off this ship!”

There was silence on the other side of the door, and then he barely caught a quiet apology before her footsteps rushed away. He rested his forehead against the door then turned around and stiffened, his breath catching in his throat. The passageway was full of the ghosts of the Celeste’s crew, all standing there, staring directly at him. He squared his shoulders, called on his seidr, and prepared for the worst.

***

After a moment of warring with her instincts, Kirally muttered an apology she wasn’t even sure he could hear then turned away. She rushed to the communications deck, just in time to hear a transmission coming in from the Statesman.

“This is the Statesman, hailing unknown vessel, requesting urgent assistance,” came the voice of who she assumed to be Thor.

Kirally pressed down the button to respond, hoping it would actually work this time. “Turn away! It’s not safe!”

But as before, the voice she and Loki had spoken with responded, identifying themselves before asking, “How may we be of assistance?”

“We are refugees of a great battle; we have many wounded and our supplies are all but depleted.”

“Oh, dear,” the voice responded in concern.

“We have children with us. Please, if you can spare anything at all, we would be in your debt.”

“Oh, of course, of course!” the voice responded.

“Dammit, don’t listen to it!” Kirally tried, desperation growing.

“I can’t shift our course per Captain’s orders, but I can slow our speed and open the loading dock for you,” the voice continued, “Do you think you can make it?”

“Yes! Yes, we can.”

“Very well, then, ser. I will wake our medics and have them stand by at the dock!”

“No! Do  _ not _ come aboard!” Kirally shouted into the radio over Thor’s relieved gratitude, “It’s not safe! You have to keep going!” She slammed her hands on the dash and turned her face up to the ship at large. “Dammit, why are you doing this!?”

“We must feed it,” came a hollow sounding voice from behind her, causing her to whirl around, coming face to face with the ghost of the captain.

“What?” Kirally asked, forgetting the dangers of addressing the ghosts.

But the captain did not move, to attack or anything at all, simply repeated, “We must feed it.”

***

When the ghosts made no move towards him, Loki decided to take matters into his own hands. If he was to die, it would be on  _ his _ terms. “And so? Do you aim to stare me to death?”

He expected that to get them moving, but instead they as one flatly said, “We must feed it.”

“Feed…  _ What?” _ he asked, caught completely off guard.

“We must feed it.”

“Feed what? What holds you?”

“We must feed it.”

“For Hel’s sake,” he hissed. He walked up to one of the ghosts, the navigation officer if memory served. “What must you feed? What is ‘it’?”

The ghost raised her hand, reaching for his face, and he braced for an attack, but she merely placed her palm on his forehead. Moments later, the memories flooded his mind.

***

_ The small crew boarded the unidentified derelict ship he knew to be the Illmarioch at the orders of their Captain; an uneasy feeling spread through them as soon as they set foot outside their vessel and into the airlock, but they were professionals and would not fail their duty. They searched the ship for any crew but found nobody, the First Mate relaying that back to the Celeste along with their failure to find anything to identify the ship. They were halfway to the airlock when their comms went on the fritz moments before a loud bang was heard seemingly coming from the back of the ship. _

_ With a finger on the triggers of their blasters, the changed direction to investigate. Following intermittent bangs, the crew found themselves outside the cargo hold. With a nod from the First Mate, the women took up defensive positions, then one of them opened the door. Inside the hold was pitch black, far darker than it should have been, given the lights were in perfect working order. _

_ In the blink of an eye, a tendril of the darkness shot out towards the nearest woman, breaking the visor of her helmet and spreading to completely cover her face, muffling her resulting alarmed scream. The rest of them made to shoot into the cargo hold in the hopes of hitting the creature and freeing their fellow, but before they could the darkness spilled out, overtaking them in moments. It seeped into their suits, forcing its way past any crack and crevice it could make. Before long, the cargo hold was cleared of darkness and the crew’s suits were seemingly intact again, as thought nothing had happened. Their comms crackled once more before they resumed working, and the First Mate reported all was well and that they were returning to the ship. _

_ Nobody on the Celeste noticed anything out of the ordinary as the boarding crew returned; they looked and acted as they usually did, there was nothing to be suspicious about. Once they were relieved of duty for the night, they returned to the crew’s cabin, where they encountered other off duty crew. When the doors closed, they each approached the women nearest them without a word; moments later darkness poured out of their eyes and mouths, overtaking their helpless crewmates, much like it had them on the Illmarioch. And so it went with every shift change for the next two days, until all the crew save the captain had been infected by the darkness. _

_ On the third day, the First Mate made her way through the passageways of the passenger cabins, eyes completely black and brimming over with the darkness in her, banging her blackened fist on the doors as she passed them. Curious and/or annoyed, the passengers began coming out of their suites, wondering what the commotion was about. They were met by the rest of the crew standing in the passageways, the darkness spilling out of them and pooling on the deck, slowly spreading out. The first they realised something was terribly wrong was when a black pool reached the feet of one of the guests and the man found himself unable to move out of it. Startled shrieks followed more pools reaching other guests, and it was only then that the crew moved. _

_ What followed was nothing short of complete slaughter, the darkness on the crew’s hands forming into claws, blades, anything they could use to viciously kill the nearest passengers they could reach. They fell by the dozens, bloodying the deck, passageways, the ports, even the overhead. Their deaths were seldom quick or clean, as the crew did not seem particularly interested in such, simply slashing, piercing and cutting with abandon. When the passengers were all finally dead, the crew turned on each other instead, tearing each other to pieces until only one remained standing; the last woman stared at her hands for a moment and then, without hesitation, drove the black claws deep into her skull. _

***

Kirally faced the captain and, steeling her nerves, took a step closer. “Feed what? What’s causing this?”

She had no idea what would happen to her for speaking to the ghost, but maybe if she got to the bottom of it all, she could somehow keep the Statesman from docking and save the rest of Loki’s people. That was all that mattered. She didn’t want to die, but she couldn’t let anyone else go through what she had.

“We must feed it,” the captain repeated. She walked up to Kirally, hands outstretched, and took hold of her head, imparting her final memories.

***

_ The screams woke the Captain with a start, and she quickly rolled out of her bed and grabbed her blaster, ensuring it was loaded before leaving her cabin. She found her way barred before long, the doors refusing to open no matter what she tried, and she had to continue finding alternate routes, feeling very much like she was being herded. She turned a corner and slipped on something, almost falling; she looked down to find a trail of a black viscous fluid on the deck. She followed it all the way to the cockpit, seeing as there was nowhere else she could go, and found her First Mate standing inside with her back to her. _

_ The Captain called out to her and demanded, “What is going on?” _

_ The First Mate didn’t move at first, prompting the Captain to call her name again. Slowly, she turned, prompting a gasp at the darkness pouring out of her. “We must feed it,” she spoke hollowly. _

_ “Feed…? What is wrong with you?” the Captain asked, more shakily that she liked. _

_ The First Mate raised her arms, reaching towards her Captain. “It is our turn. We must feed it.” _

_ Before the Captain could react, darkness shot out of the First Mate’s hands, engulfing her and swallowing her terrified screams. Once she had crumpled to the deck, the First Mate walked over to the controls, changing their course. That done, she raised her hand and slashed her own throat open. The Captain watched as the blackness cleared from her First Mate’s now lifeless eyes, before succumbing to death herself. _

***

Loki staggered back a step when the ghost released him, reeling from the memories. He shook his head, rubbing his eyes with a hand; by the time he looked up, the passageway was deserted. He looked back at the door to the cockpit, hoping Kirally was alright, then took off down the passageway. Knowing what he knew now, his path was clear, and he had a feeling that as soon as it became evident to whatever ‘it’ was, he would have very little time to go about his task.

He was glad now for all the time they’d spent going between the cockpit and the engine room, for he had familiarised the way so well, he could probably get there blindfolded. His legs ached and his lungs burned with how hard he pushed them to get there quickly but he paid it no mind. He could collapse later, provided he lived through this.  _ It _ seemed to realise his intent just as he reached the engine room, but this time he managed to get through the door before it closed. The ghosts of the engineers appeared then all around him, though they looked as they had when the massacre occurred, and moved with clear intent to attack him.

Loki diverted some of his Power to creating a shield around himself to repel them, not even sure if it would work, though thankfully it held. He wasted no time in making his way to the engines, already gathering his seidr and mentally preparing himself for his plan. As soon as he reached the enormous engines he took a deep breath, shoved the ghosts as far away from him as he could one last time, then poured out all of his magic into the machinery, overloading them as much as he could manage. It didn’t take very long for his efforts to bear fruit, the engines creaking and groaning under the strain as alarms began to blare.

He turned in time to send a burst of seidr at the ghosts to knock them away again, though the ache in his temples warned that he was overworking himself. He knew what he would do next might have terrible consequences, but while he didn’t much care if he lived or died, he wasn’t alone. And so he reached into his pocket dimension and grabbed hold of the Tesseract. He teleported himself to the cockpit to see the darkness surrounding Kirally and creeping closer, and launched himself at her, only  _ just _ managing to grab her and teleport them away before it reached them.

To say that Thor, Heimdall and Valkyrie were shocked to see Loki teleport into the cockpit of the Statesman along with a woman they didn’t know would be a massive understatement, but Loki gave them no time to dwell on it or ask questions before he was shoving Thor away from the controls. He banked the ship  _ hard, _ pushing the engines as much as he could to put all the distance between them and the Celeste as possible as fast as possible.

“What are you doing?? We need their help!” Valkyrie snapped, moving to stop him, but Kirally shoved Heimdall - who had been helping her to her feet - away and moved to tackle the warrior.

“You do not want to be anywhere near that trap,” Loki retorted, “Especially not now.”

Thor began to ask what he meant by that but by then the overloaded engines of the Celeste had caused a catastrophic chain of explosions, unheard in the vacuum of space, though they certainly felt the shock waves they caused, knocking them off balance due to their unreadiness for it. The questions were thrown Loki’s way as soon as they had regained their footing, but he ignored them in favour of going to Kirally, grasping her by the shoulders.

“Are you alright?” he asked, checking her over for wounds, his concern blatant.

“I’m okay,” she assured, earning a relieved sigh. “The captain, she tried to hold it back; it bought me time for you to get there.” She checked him over in turn. “Are  _ you _ alright?”

“Nothing a week of sleep cannot fix,” he dismissed, pulling her into his arms and holding on tight, as though afraid she’d disappear otherwise. She returned the embrace just as fiercely.

“Loki…” Thor began, rather unnerved by his brother and the strange woman’s behaviour, “What in Bor’s name is going on?”

Loki reluctantly stepped back from Kirally. “That, Thor, is a story I will tell after I have had some rest.”

Before Thor could protest or insist he answer the question, Loki’s exhaustion and overuse of his seidr caught up to him, and he would have collapsed onto the deck if Kirally had not been there to catch him as he blacked out.

****

He could tell they weren’t quite sure whether to believe him or not, though he kept his irritation over it from showing. Kirally supported him as best she could, which he greatly appreciated, but there was only so much she could do given she was a stranger to them. It was only when Heimdall cast his Sight to the faraway station where the Illmarioch was docked that they began to really listen to what Loki was saying. The disturbed looks on both his and Kirally’s faces as he recounted the massacre of the passengers certainly lent further credence to the tale. By the time he had finished recounting the whole thing, he felt drained all over again, and he took the first opportunity to retire to the cabin he had snagged for his use. Kirally followed close behind, neither of them anywhere near ready to be too far apart yet.

“Is it really over?” Kirally asked once they’d settled into the admittedly quite cramped bed, “Did we kill it?”

“I do not know,” he replied honestly, “We can only hope.”

“If it’s still out there…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought.

“I know,” he tightened his hold on her. “It certainly put effort into stopping me from destroying the ship. Perhaps it cannot survive in space.”

“I really hope not.”

He rubbed her back and urged her to rest, his own tiredness lulling him not too long after her breathing evened out. They had plenty of other concerns, not the least of which was the Statesman’s dwindling resources and the potential consequences of his use of the Tesseract, but for now he took solace in the fact that they were alive and whole and together. Everything else could wait until he wasn’t so exhausted.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Things I Googled Throughout This Project:**  
>  The names of different parts of a ship (this was originally taking place in the middle of the ocean, but even after I didn't feel like wasting the research XD)  
> How to spell 'leisure' (which I had to double check _again_ as I wrote this)  
> Confirming my definition of a black hole was the right one (it was, yay me)  
> How much distance is a light year (about 6 trillion miles, apparently)  
> The origins of russian roulette (this has nothing to do with the fic, I just really wanted to know)  
> Can there be shock waves in space (apparently, yes)


End file.
